Thabile's experience and career highlights includes: 

• Successfully acted on behalf of the IDC in several matters involving PAIA applications inter alia from members of the Public, organisations such as AfriForum, the Office of the Public Protector, the Zondo Commission and other private sector companies in relation to the IDC's funding projects across various sectors of the South African economy (during the period 2012 to date);
• Successfully represented the IDC at the Zondo Commission of Enquiry into Corruption and State Capture (2019);
• Acted on behalf of Eskom in a PAIA application launched by Earth Life Africa;
• Successfully acted on behalf of the IDC in an acrimonious liquidation application and successfully converted provisional liquidation orders to business rescue, involving IDC's investee companies;
• Successfully acted on behalf of the GEPF and PIC in a highly contested shareholder dispute in the high court application in respect of one of its investee companies;
• Acted for the City of Johannesburg (COJ) in high court applications to relocate large group of Soweto residents who were beneficiaries of low-cost housing and the eviction of illegal occupants of improved and unimproved council properties in accordance with the provisions of the PIE and ESTA Acts.
• Acted for the IDC in its capacity as both lender and shareholder in an acrimonious provisional liquidation matter involving a chrome mine; successfully opposed numerous applications brought by aggressive creditors and hostile takeover bidders resulting in a successful conversion to business rescue and implementation of a turnaround strategy which saved the mine and the IDC's circa R300m investment in it; launched various counter applications to defend the mine property and the BRP's rights envisaged in Chapter 6 of the Companies Act;
• Have been acting for and on behalf of the IDC and successfully perfected various of its notarial bonds nationally for the past 20 years;
• Successfully defended an investee company of the IDC in liquidation and arbitration proceedings involving one of South Africa's largest concentrated solar power projects in the Northern Cape resulting in the preservation of shareholder value for a consortium of multinational shareholders and thus saved the project from collapse;
• Successfully defended the IDC (qua Escrow) in well publicised dispute and arbitration proceedings involving the protection and preservation of funds held in an escrow account by the IDC on behalf of a poor mining community in the North West. The funds remain protected and preserved for the community;
• Successfully defended certain employees of the IDC (in their capacities as directors in an IDC subsidiary) in criminal proceedings instituted by the Green Scorpions in terms of the Environment Conversation Act, 73 of 1989 and Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993 (Asbestos Regulations).
• Successfully defended a client (a listed ICT entity) against an arbitration involving a contractual dispute (contract value – in excess of R100m).
• Acted for the IDC in successfully recovering in excess R50 million worth of shares in a listedcompany it had funded in terms of a preference share subscription transaction as well as a cession and pledge of shares. This resulted in the IDC recovering the capital and interest in full (based on the value of the shares attached through the sheriff of court).
• Successfully defended the IDC against a R29 million claim by joint liquidators of a company in liquidation in terms of Sections 26 and 29 of the Insolvency Act.
• Successfully reviewed and set aside several decisions of the Master of the High Court, in favour of the IDC, in an acrimonious, insolvency matters with punitive costs orders against the master's office.
• Advised and assisted IDC in a multi-lender, multi-billion-rand manganese mining project in the Northern Cape.
• Successfully defended the City of Johannesburg in a landmark review application in respect of a tender awarded for substantial bulk roads and storm water infrastructural upgrade in Soweto.
• Successfully defended a client in arbitration proceedings in a dispute relating to the arbitrability of a claim arising from a lapsed agreement.
• Represented clients in various court proceedings to review and set aside arbitral awards.
• Advised and assisted Aeromix SA (Pty) Ltd (holding sole distributorship rights for specialised mining equipment in the whole of the Southern African region) with the negotiation and sale of its business to a multinational UK based company (represented at the time by Webber Wentzel) and the successful transfer of its entire workforce in terms of Section 197 of LRA. (transaction value circa R200m).
• Furnished specialised legal opinion to the City of Johannesburg and Eskom (working closely with one of our country’s leading senior counsel who is an expert in these fields) relating to post-retirement employees benefits at local government level and within a state-owned This included, inter alia, investigating employee benefits at state-owned enterprise level; the legal implications of post-retirement medical aid contributions and the employer’s obligations in that regard.
• Furnished specialised legal opinion to Eskom on structured finance transaction in respect of offshore investment opportunities in the ICT sector through the use of SPVs, in conjunction with two Senior Counsels specialising in the fields of corporate and tax.
• Assisting corporate clients in several strategic BEE driven acquisitions of equity in some of South Africa’s leading ICT and related services companies. One of these transactions, valued at over R40 million, was finalized in August 2006 (with Invested as the debt funder) wherein I inter alia, drafted and settled sale of shares and shareholders’ agreements; reviewed the financing and dividend policy agreements from the financial institution involved; and reviewed and settled subscription and preference shares agreements and etc.

• Best Lawyers International 2014–2019 listed Thabile for litigation.

Education

• BProc, University of South Africa
• LLB, University of the Witwatersrand
• Certificate in Energy Law, Mandela School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand
• Admitted as an attorney in: 1996

Memberships

• Black Lawyers Association